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Interalliance Political Evolution
This was originally written on January 9, 2009 for publication in the still delayed second edition of the Francoist Papers. I have been encouraged by others to self publish, and am now availing myself of that opportunity. I think that the conclusions I drew have turned out to be largely true, though the work could certainly be updated in light of recent events. That being said, I think it still holds up. Thanks to Zessa for spell checking and editing. Special thanks to the ODN for letting me keep my private office on their boards to work on this in private. Fair warning, this is an enormous wall of text. I won't pretend to be totally right. Feel free to rip me as you like. I'll banter back and forth as I have the opportunity. I hope that you enjoy. Fair warning deux: A lot of the ideas and concepts voiced here are drawn from Francoism. Some can argue (convincingly even) that Francoism is a flawed philosophy when applied to CN. I think, however, that it provides us a reasonably useful set of ideas and terms from which to be able to discuss Cyber Nations intelligently. I don't profess to be a dyed in the wool Francoist. In fact, part of my intent here is to correct what I find to be inadequacies in orthodox Francoist thought. This is particularly clear in the conclusion where I directly contradict the work The Outwards Spiral. Cheers, -WalkerNinja- Text Break Down Preface *1. Introduction of the author's intent *2. Identification of the author's bias International Anarchy to the Age of Order *1. Formation of alliances *2. Characteristics of alliances of the period *3. Prevailing trends in interalliance relations *4. Generic Profile of "successful" leaders of the era The End of the Age of Order *1. Factors contributing to the end of the age *2. The Breaking Point: Great War 1 *3. The Crisis The New Politics and the Age of Unity *1. The Crisis Continued *2. Disclaimer *3. The Architects of the Age of Unity *4. Testing the Waters: Great War II *5. The Final Breath: Great War III Crisis in a United World *1. The Moldavi Rebellion and the Unjust War *2. Devolution and Restoration: The Birth of the Continuum *3. The "Distant Leaders" Conclusion *1. The End or just a New Beginning? *2. The Cyclical Nature of the Cyberverse *3. The Rise of a second Age of Order Preface I would like to begin this essay by thanking Vladimir for taking interest in my musings and inviting me to contribute to this grand project. I am not altogether convinced that my contributions are of the caliber typically expected by this publication, but am willing to put forward my best effort. To the reader In order to appreciate and measure my contributions to this publication, and to preserve my own academic integrity, it is incumbent upon me to lay bare my biases. These biases will invariably create shortcomings in my work, but no more so than any other author. As historians and philosophers, it is always our intent to act with sympathy towards the subject under scrutiny and present an analysis that is as free from bias as possible. I did not join this game until after the ending of the Third Great War. Because of this, my knowledge of the preceding eras is limited to the recollections of varying participants, studious examination of primary documents, and reverse engineering the past from the present. For the majority of my time on Digiterra I have dwelt within the borders of the Orange Defense Network. This will tend to cause me to focus more on this alliance than their actual stature in history would otherwise dictate. In some ways this affiliation has limited the degree to which I am able to research and experience the political realities and histories of Digiterra, but in others it gave me unique opportunities. For example, I have had the opportunity to read the ORRPLE/NPO negotiations that resulted in the withdrawal of ORRPLE from the First Great War. This is something that few rulers from the post-Third Great War generation can claim... much less their predecessors. It is my purpose to examine and articulate not the minutiae and trivia of the past but the underlying processes at work throughout our history that have conspired to shape the present. The varying details of the past are unlikely to re-emerge in the future, but the processes that brought them about are always at work. As such, they warrant careful investigation and debate. In mastering these processes we will all be more capable of deciding our own destinies as we are swept down the stream of time. International Anarchy to the Age of Order At the dawning of Digiterra there were no grand leaders, no armies of note, nor even loosely organized bands of freewheeling technology pirates. The international anarchy that prevailed prior to the founding of CATO can only be characterized as a dark pre-history. The levels of ignorance, exuberance, and violence must have been overwhelming. Before the first guides were written national development was likely haphazard, the first nations resembling degenerate mutant freaks with disproportionate levels of infrastructure, technology, land, and military. Even off-site forums had yet to be instituted. Only within the confines of the first established alliances could nation building be systematically studied and implemented. The founding of CATO, then, constitutes a veritable Neolithic Era for Cyber Nations. What followed shortly after the founding of CATO was nothing short of a quantum leap forward; an event that would shape everything that followed and from which the Cyberverse has never recovered. From the Other World came an influx of alien entities possessing culture, history, philosophy, enmities, and administrative structures far more advanced than the indigenous population of Digiterra. Digiterrans were ill-equipped to counter the immigration of these powers. This immigration marked the beginning of the Age of Order. Who were these aliens? Notable alien entities that persist today are The Legion, the Orange Defense Network, and the New Pacific Order. Though wildly different in the way that we think of them today, to native Digiterrans they must have appeared strikingly similar and it is these similarities that are worthy of note. The Aliens were organized. Their dealings, in large part, were handled on their own off-site forums. They came with fully formed charters outlining a hierarchical systems based (in varying degrees) on democratic/republican principles. The Aliens were publicly politically dynamic. Owing to their origins on the Other World, the Aliens appreciated how public sentiment could affect the outcomes of inter-alliance conflict. Those that remember those early days often remark how full of energy that time was. Recruitment was not isolated to Cyber Nations, quite the contrary, it was sought across all of Greater Digiterra. Social networks (both digital and biological) were exploited in order to fuel a period of unprecedented growth. The Aliens were culturally self-aware. There were real and appreciable differences between the Aliens, and this became their area of focus. Each alliance-entity sought to create a persona that would define their alliance. These differences, and the focus upon them, would later lead to the great interalliance conflicts. The Aliens were warlike conquerors. Not all battles are fought with soldiers and tanks (which did not yet exist). Many (some would argue most) are fought with words and political positioning. In the earliest days after the Other World invasion, this was certainly the case. The alliance entities immediately began setting up hegemony over the various color spheres of the era. From the very beginning, even the most benign of these powers, must have been viewed as conquerors by the native Digiterrans. The Aliens possessed charismatic leaders. One should not confuse the term charismatic with "popular." Certainly the most prolific leader of the era, Ivan Moldavi, could not have been counted popular even within his own alliance-entity. He was however deeply charismatic. This charisma was necessary to bring ever increasing numbers of nations into the fold of the alliance-entities. Pope Hope (founder of the ODN), Ivan Moldavi (Emperor of the NPO), and their contemporary peers warrant further study if only because of the weight that their legacy places upon the present. These individuals were vastly different from our modern leaders on a number of accounts. For one thing, they were dedicated almost solely to the advancement of their individual alliances in a way that was not contingent upon their alliances' relations with others. Indeed, the cause of the later Moldavi Rebellion seemed (in large part) to focus upon the degree to which foreign influence had diluted the pristine essence of the New Pacific Order. Pope Hope is remembered as the most thoroughly "ODNish" of all of the ODN's many members; her occasional posts on the ODN off-site forums are heralded by great fanfare. In nearly all cases, these leaders were known more for their charisma and political cunning than for their mechanical mastery of national development. One need only look at the nations of the remaining leaders of this era to see the veracity of this statement. Their strength, their virtue, was not in their nations, but in their ideas and the ability and vivacity with which they communicated them. These charismatic and dynamic figures define the era as much as they define their alliances. It was a time when treaties had not yet been codified to the degree that a three or four letter acronym could easily communicate the meaning of 1,000 word documents. Non-Aggression Pacts were events for great celebration (they had not yet begun to proliferate like weeds), and inter-alliance dealings were seldom casual. The focus, always, was on the individual alliance. It is for this reason that this era is termed "The Age of Order." Francoist philosophers teach that the State of Nature and International Anarchy can only be escaped by communal affiliation. The order imposed by these communal affiliations will allow the constituent nations to achieve the maximum desirable amount of individual freedom and liberties. The New Pacific Order claims to embody this concept, but in a less ethnocentric sense the alliances of this period can all be seen to adhere to the same general principles (though they differ substantially in implementation). In this time, sovereignty was more than just a vague concept used as a preface to a treaty. It was a gift from comrade to comrade, and preserved by the community in which they found themselves. The participation of non-governmental officials on the Open World Forum and Alliance Politics was vibrant because these things had been secured by communal effort as directed by charismatic leaders. Each alliance was growing in influence each day as new nations were formed and flew the ensigns of their respective alliance-entities. Though this era certainly had its conflicts, these tended to be localized and limited. This would not be the case for long. As ambitions grew, and the great personalities that lead these alliances came to conflict, interalliance pressure was building quickly. Above all, the ascendancy of the Star of Franco, under the leadership of Ivan Moldavi, inspired hatred (some of which originated in the Other World), competition, ambition, and ultimately bloody constraint. The End of the Age of Order The first formal interalliance war during the Age of Order, the GATO-INC War, seems to have been fought for little more reason than a mutual dislike of one another. The same was true of the Citrus War, though allegations of espionage cloud matters there. Even the first Polar War seems to have been started more out of antipathy than any tangible wrongdoing. Such was the sovereignty of this age. The freedom to act unilaterally without the fear of third party intervention. Conflicts of this sort were, perhaps, unavoidable because of this sovereignty and the freedom with which alliance members expressed themselves in public. In the waning days of the Age of Order, a gradual shift in warfare and interalliance relations was taking place. Rather than the limited scale alliance duels that typified the earlier days (as exemplified by the Citrus War and the First Polar War), conflicts became messier affairs. Opposing alliances sought to hedge their bets by enlisting the aid of otherwise uninvolved parties in order to make victory more resounding and peace more lasting. These stronger, and more binding, interalliance agreements would make relationships more complex. The Second Polar War was the first conflict in which a coalition of alliances would strike out against a common foe. The intervention of the Legion, at the behest of their comrades in the New Pacific Order, marks the first instance of an otherwise uninvolved party participating in warfare on behalf of another. This conflict raised a number of questions concerning sovereignty, obligation, and endurance. It is recorded that the Legion left the Second Polar War prior to its allies. In the Age of Order, this was certainly within their rights as a sovereign alliance. They felt that NAAC had been sufficiently punished, and thus quit the field of battle. Evidence from the time is obscure and in short supply, but it may be assumed that this was against the will of their comrades in arms and created a sort of rift between the Legion and the New Pacific Order. Such action would surely constitute an affront to the temperamental sensibilities of Emperor Ivan Moldavi. The Great War (or as it is termed today, the "First Great War") must necessarily be seen as the death knell of the Age of Order. The New Pacific Order entered into a new war, and declared that it must "be the most justified war in the history of CN..." Taken in the context of the wars that typified that age, it must be warranted that they were correct in that sense. Where previous wars had been fought over mutual antipathy and insults, the actions of LUE were seen to be a direct affront to decency. The reaction that their declaration of war received could not have been anticipated by anyone. Alliances took seized this opportunity to wage war against the New Pacific Order seemingly without rhyme or reason. While a few entered on treaties, the majority must be characterized as acting independent of any obligation to do so. The vast coalition (or coaLUEtion, if you must) of alliances fought the Order to a bloody standstill (though some would argue that the Order achieved a Pyrrhic victory). What changed? In reality, nothing had changed at all. The charismatic leader of the New Pacific Order, Ivan Moldavi, had caused his alliance to become the subject of popular scorn. When an opportunity arose to manifest this anger and hatred militarily, it was seized. The very factors that had allowed alliances to rise to prominence during the Age of Order (charismatic leadership and strong cultural values) had produced a counter-stroke. That which had created prosperity for the Order, had also brought it virtually to its knees. The Age of Order turned out to be little better than International Anarchy. The whims of sovereign entities (nations in the previous age, alliances in the latter) would still threaten the individual liberties and freedoms of nations and rulers alike. For all it's promise, the Age of Order could not safeguard the individual liberties of its constituent nations any better than International Anarchy. The difference between the two was a collective enslavement rather than an individual enslavement. Over the course of the First Great War the perceptive realized that Digiterran political realities had forever shifted, and that for an alliance to thrive, a new paradigm had to be adopted. Over the following weeks and months a new era would be born. The New Politics and the Age of Unity Out of the aftermath of the First Great War, a new political paradigm was born. Though its birth was subtle, with little fanfare or accolades upon its arrival, these new politics would slowly but surely reverse the inertia of the previous age. These new politics were an answer to a question that must first have been asked by NAAC in the aftermath of the Second Polar War, but which would only be answered by the New Pacific Order once they had enjoyed the dubious honor of having suffered the hostilities of the largest coalition of alliances to date. The problem is that the traditional wisdom of the Age of Order was failing. It had already failed NAAC in the Second Polar War and nearly caused the collapse of the New Pacific Order in the First Great War. An individual and sovereign alliance could not remain free and independent on its own merits. Solutions to this crisis varied from alliance to alliance. Some, caught in the throes of the Age of Order, would seek to empower their alliance by gaining additional recruits. An alliance the size of several alliances would surely be in no danger of losing its sovereignty to the much smaller alliances that milled beneath it. This was reflected not only in the recruitment and admission policies enacted by alliances, but also by their policies regarding ghosts. One internal ODN policy regarding ghosts stated (and I paraphrase), that so long as the ghosts were well behaved and brought no trouble on the ODN, then their presence could only help the perception that the ODN is a large and growing alliance and thus reduce the chances that someone would take her on in war. It may be surmised that the Legion followed a similar policy considering their close relation to the ODN at the time, and the paper-tiger reality that manifested during the Third Great War. Others would espouse conscientious neutrality or moral independence as the solution to the quandary presented by the Age of Order. Seemingly, this solution espouses that if an alliance gives no offense, that they will be perpetually secured against harm from outsiders. IRON, the Green Protection Agency, and the Order of the Black Rose may all be identified as adherents of this path, though they manifested it in wildly different ways. While IRON simply remained diplomatically isolated, the GPA would engage in diplomacy in order to assure their neutrality in any given situation. The Order of the Black Rose would draft the Writ de Credo which would subsequently be signed by so many oppositional powers that they would be permanently resigned to neutrality in any feasible war scenario while maintaining the appearance of honor and abiding by one's treaties. Most commonly, alliances of all sorts would sign a smattering of defense agreements as added protection against foreign incursion. s were few and far between initially, signed with fervor, and accompanied by oaths of eternal loyalty. More common were NAPs which became so numerous as to be without value. s and s were also beginning to emerge as alternative treaty constructs which might help in the event of a future crisis. Very few s existed, and were seen as the tools of warmongers. All of these solutions were reasonably well thought out, and each was implemented with varying degrees of success. In fact, many alliances continue to cling to these solutions today. They would not, however, become the dominant strategy, nor would they bring about the Age of Unity. Author's Note: What follows is an extrapolation of what is perceived to have taken place. Having had no access to the private documents of the parties in question, this analysis is based on secondary resources, and a compilation of what is publicly known. As such, this is likely to be the most inaccurate portion of this essay. If any of the cornerstone players involved in this period would be willing to submit to interviews or turn over their personal documents for further historical/philosophical analysis, it would be much appreciated. Arrangements on their use can be made privately. After the passing of the Great War, the winds of change were blowing in the Pacific. Shortly after the declaration of peace, Ivan Moldavi excused himself from the throne and was replaced by the most widely popular Pacifican Emperor to date: Dilber. Dilber, the Pantless Thunderbolt, and his Imperial Officers are the architects of the Age of Unity, and their solution was as paradoxical as the problem. Where Moldavi strove and raged to secure an independent Order, Dilber would shake hands and conspire to create independence and freedom through communal dependency. At first, the Pacifican accumulation of treaties must have appeared little different than the dabbling of other alliances. The differences between the approach of others and those attempted by the rest of Digiterra are threefold. Initially flouted by the established Digiterran powers (it is recorded that he offered an MDP to the ODN, and that his offer was subsequently rejected in favor of the Legion), the Pacifican Emperor looked to a more recent breed of foreign immigrants to create a grand coalition. Since the original Alien invasion, subsequent migrations had been occurring from Greater Digiterra to Planet Bob. In many ways, these immigrants were similar to their predecessors, but most lacked the focus on political intrigue. LUE may be regarded as the first of these immigrants. Their interest laid in the exploration and mastery of the Admin's Digiterra. They came from a culture that had immigrated and mastered many corners of Digiterra and subsequently written manuals on how to repeat their results. Others followed their example. First employed as mercenary recruits by Pacifica in the First Great War, the GOONS called upon their dark home known for its sophomoric (and occasionally vile) humor. The Order of the Paradox emerged also with minds full of strategy and dedicated to another Admin known as "PI." The Federation of Armed Nations came like a plague from a war-torn and recklessly armed corner of Greater Digiterra. Together with the New Polar Order, the Pacific gradually assembled powers new and old into a tight bond of unity that would activate in the case of either aggression or defense. Taken in its context, the founding of the World Unity Treaty is astounding. In sublimating the fiercely independent revolutionary culture of the New Pacific Order, Dilber was able to form a concrete set of allies that would serve to secure the peace, strength, and prosperity of the Order for many months to come. The cultural tolerance, and collective unity of the World Unity Treaty would enable it to dominate the world around it. While this appears to be a simple and elementary conclusion, one must again consider the context in which the Initiative was formed, and the moral, ethical, and philosophical implications of its formation. Should the war techniques and nation building prowess developed painstakingly by one alliance be offered freely to an untested ally? Can conflicting cultures truly unite politically and militarily? Is it ethical for an alliance that condemns the practice of raiding to protect and support one that does? How much moral deficiency will political expedience allow us to ethically overlook? These questions continue to plague the Age of Unity today as evidence by the publication of the Grämlins Codex and their subsequent withdrawal from the Continuum. As is generally the case, answers will necessarily beget more complex and demanding questions. What is clear is that some degree of cultural syncretism was taking place, not only in the World Unity Treaty but abroad as well. The Drinking Buddies, Soylent ORRPLE, and other agreements were designed to facilitate understanding and closer ties in order to make surety of the military commitments already codified by more standard treaties. But would it work? The waters were first tested in the Second Great War. Whatever the histories will tell you, Farkistan seems to be little more than an opportunity for the declining remnants of the coalition to try and stop the ascendant power of the Initiative. This is marked by the nearly immediate formation of a counter-hegemonic bloc, The League (though the author of the Outwards Spiral will doubtlessly say that my analysis is reversed). None of the antipathy had faded since the First Great War, and the diplomatic strategy employed by the Initiative must have been intimidating. The war, quickly initiated and broken off with equal haste was disproportionately in favor of the Initiative. This fact in itself is stunning considering that the Second Great War was perhaps the most evenly matched conflict since... well... ever. Numerically, the sides were relatively equal. The disparity lied in the quality behind those numbers. Where the coalition valued independence, sovereignty, and idealism the Initiative members had been researching the material realities of the game and ensuring that each WUT signatory was brought completely up to speed. This was so much the case that Imperial Officers of the New Pacific Order would later claim to have built FAN and other WUT signatories from the ground up for the purpose of being war-machines. Baffled, the coalition alliances would retreat to their regions, rebuild, and attempt to form their own formal coalition in order to ensure the full participation of what they viewed as their side. Rather than adopt the proven methods of the Initiative, they seemingly refocused their efforts on organizational paradigms prevalent during the previous age. The bombastic and charismatic leaders that were so typical of the previous age came into full use in preparation for "next time." Cool headed diplomacy and rational strategies were discarded in favor of the rantings of Chris Kaos and the like. ODN leaders of the era recalled that coaLUEtion/AEGIS planning sessions were "chaotic" and "stupid." The perspective of ODN leaders during this era is particularly relevant to demonstrate how little coaLUEtion/AEGIS signatories truly understood the new political realities. While the Initiative struggled to keep its foreign policy united, the ORRPLE bloc found its foreign policy increasingly divided. Never particularly anti-Order after the end of the First Great War (termed the Great Stupidity in their ranks), the ODN was taking steps to distance themselves from what increasingly looked like an anti-Order crusade. The other half of ORRPLE, the Legion, was pursuing a policy nearly opposite of the ODN. Ultimately, the ODN would assent to fight in the Third Great War as a display of loyalty towards the Legion. Even in the only existing "coaLUEtion" bloc, individuality and egos continued to clash and lead to disastrous results. The Third Great War was the final breath for those that opposed the Age of Unity. Barely recovered from the Second Great War evolutionary throwbacks broke against the hard reality of the World Unity Treaty. The Orders and their allies would claim that things had come full circle. Undoubtedly they were, at that time, unaware of just how right they were. Just as the international anarchy had come to an end with the formation of GATO and the migration of otherworldly powers, so too had the Age of Order come to calamitous disaster before the creation of the World Unity Treaty. The cycle was not one of justice, vengeance, patriotism, or retribution, but rather a Darwinian cycle wherein those best able to adapt will come to dominate and those that do not will find themselves fossilized and pumped into the fuel tanks of their successors' SUVs. Crisis in a United World The end of the Third Great War symbolized for many the end of reality (or the game as they would put it). Recollections from former members and leaders of LUE indicate that there was a prevailing idea that a "reset" was imminent (a religious or superstitious belief in some future forced artificial Armageddon where all existing rulers are forcibly reincarnated). These apocalyptic predictions would be disappointed by a lingering existence wherein the world was dominated by the Initiative and boredom abounded. The imperial seat of the New Pacific Order had passed to the hands Trotsky's Revenge, colloquially known as Moo. If Ivan Moldavi (and his foreign contemporaries) was a personification of the Age of Order, and Dilber provided the intellectual framework for the Age of Unity, one can look upon Moo as the administrator of the Age of Unity. Success in the Age of Unity had been distilled to a complex formula. The variables, now in place, had merely to be executed and maintained. This would later lead to criticism of Emperor Revenge that he was not as dynamic or as capable a leader as his predecessors (a lesser son of greater sires). From the perspective of this essay it is rather the case that Emperor Revenge possessed and exhibited a specific set of skills necessary to perpetuating the Age of Unity; skills that were the subject of scorn from the living remnants of previous epochs. The origins of the Moldavi rebellion are subject to great debate. So much spin and propaganda was present during the execution of that event that it is exceedingly difficult to ascertain the truth. What is clear is that there was a good deal of discontent within the World Unity Treaty. The major axes of this discontent may be identified as the New Polar Order and the Goon Order of Neutral Shoving. Though it has not been articulated as such, it may be presumed that the Emperor of the New Polar Order, Electron Sponge, considered the World Unity Treaty to be a counter-hegemonic bloc (as expressed by Vladimir in The Outwards Spiral); a mere tool by which victory over the coaLUEtion/League/AEGIS entity could be achieved and honor satisfied. Having achieved its purpose, the World Unity Treaty was now purposeless and was little more than a bludgeon to be used both against its signatories and those that opposed them. Electron Sponge later reflected that his concerns about WUT were piqued by the treatment of the Viridian Entente and CIS. It was at that moment that he realized that WUT could no longer be trusted with the security of the New Polar Order. The blatant thuggery engaged in by the future signatories of the Unjust Path would only make this more certain. The GOONS, conversely, found too much strategic practicality in the World Unity Treaty. It was too useful to be done away with, and yet their unquestioned power was breeding boredom and lethargy. It has been reported that the GOONS leadership increasingly were more enthralled by Miniputt than by the stagnant interalliance politics of the Age. So long as they maintained the closest of relations with the New Pacific Order and the other WUT signatories, their hegemony was assured. The fulcrum of these opposing forces was the New Pacific Order. Grognardish Moldavi-era Pacificans felt increasingly uneasy about the foreign influence that the GOONS and others had on the internal workings of the New Pacific Order. To them, figures like Ivan Moldavi and Electron Sponge were truly cut of Imperial cloth. Nostalgic remembrances of the Age of Order (fueled by Electron Sponge and those sympathetic to his perspective) would heighten these tensions within the Order. The New Polar Order would set about attaining a slew of Defense Pacts with alliances great and small prior to and following their retreat from the World Unity Treaty. The GOONS would form a counter-bloc, the Unjust Path, in order to consolidate support against the machinations of Electron Sponge. The Moldavi Rebellion (the attempted coup d'état against Emperor Revenge perpetrated by Electron Sponge, BlackAdder, and Ivan Moldavi) can be seen as little more than an attempt by the Polar Emperor to tip the scales of war in his favor against the Unjust Path. As it would turn out, Emperor Revenge's ability to administer forums and human resources with equal puissance would save him from being unseated. While officially neutral, the New Pacific Order would contribute significant organizational and moral assistance to Sponge's coalition. The Unjust War itself was unspectacular. What is worthy of note is the political regression of its aftermath. Sponge's Coalition (the "~" coalition) was too similar in form to the previous entities lead by LUE and GATO to be sustainable in the way that WUT proved to be. Midway through the war, Sponge would begin considering a postwar bloc of considerably fewer signatories. For whatever reason, this postwar bloc would not materialize very quickly allowing for a temporary reversion to the Age of Order. In those days, all things were uncertain. No bloc of alliances controlled the political reality of the planet but everyone was certain that there should be. The formation of the Continuum (orchestrated, reportedly, by the Order of the Paradox and the New Pacific Order) and One Vision (the postwar brainchild of Electron Sponge, nominally supported by the New Pacific Order), and the Citadel (a bloc of "elite" alliances) all within a few weeks of each other demonstrate just how uncertain things actually were. Some would suggest that this constitutes the emergence of a new Age. The underlying paradigm of the post Unjust War world, however, is identical to that of the Age of Unity. Interalliance collectivism is necessary to secure the maximum freedom for the constituent member nations. In the months following there would be an unprecedented proliferation of interalliance blocs and mutual defense pacts designed in order to eliminate unforeseen aggression against individual alliance. Even economic treaties like the Orange Unity Treaty, would come to be seen in the context of interalliance blocs. Under different circumstances, this would have lead to an Age of Hyper-Order (wherein blocs would act with the sovereignty exhibited during the first Age of Order). The presence of the Continuum as the successor to WUT would tend to dampen any such flames of controversy before they were able to fully catch. The sheer weight of the combined forces of the Continuum was more intimidating than any policy of mutually assured destruction. Any war in which the Continuum would be involved would be staggeringly one-sided and would be preceded by the hasty diplomatic isolation of the entity that aroused their ire. Thus, the Age of Unity persists. To thrive in the Age of Unity, alliance leaders, in large part have come to emulate Emperor Revenge. I term them, "The Distant Leaders." Because of the Byzantine nature of interalliance relations today and the staggeringly high stakes that such relations entail, the basic members of most alliances have been largely silenced for fear of disrupting the necessary endeavors of the alliance. The leaders of alliances and blocs have become distant men operating in social circles largely seen as impenetrable to most players. Where in the Age of Order these leaders were charismatic figures that endeavored to inspire their followers, Age of Unity leaders are increasingly caught up in the administration and maintenance of their vast treaty webs and carefully weighing each move so as not to cause a stir among either their allies or potential enemies. The mantra of "private channels ftw" has been canonized and elevated to such a degree that many leaders of influence in interalliance circles are seldom seen or interacted with by foreign emissaries with whom they are unconnected or even their own basic members on whose behalf they operate. This trend of homogenization and isolation has lead to a great degree of discontent on the part of basic members across the world. Conclusion Is this the final Age of Cyber Nations? Is the Age of Unity unbreakable? As has already been shown, the Age of Unity has already been shaken to its foundations once during the Moldavi Rebellion and the ensuing Unjust War. The War of the Coalition could also be seen as a recent threat to the security of the age. Indeed, the casus belli for this war (and the contemporaneous "No-CB War") is far more reminiscent of the Age of Order than the Age of Unity. In the past the denizens of Digiterra could always count on the oppositional nature of interalliance blocs. There was never any doubt that the League and the Initiative would collide, nor that the Unjust Path would spell the doom of the World Unity Treaty. Today, however, we have more blocs than ever. The Superfriends, the League of Extraordinary Oranges, Complaints and Grievances, Ragnablok, the Overlord's Protectorate Pact, Orange Unity Treaty, Agora Accords, the Continuum, the Ring Cycle, One Vision, and Citadel, just to name a few major ones, all co-exist (sometimes, paradoxically, sharing signatories). None seem to bear any ill-intent towards the other. How will the interalliance political reality of Digiterra continue to evolve? The answer is that it will evolve as it always has. Discontentment combined with power and opportunity are the necessary ingredients for interalliance political change. It has been eloquently put forward that a counter-hegemonic bloc must arise in order to challenge the status quo of the current epoch. While this adequately describes the form of events, it does not appropriately address the cause of events. There are processes at work in Digiterra, as there always have been regardless of our awareness of them. In various corners of the globe, political interactions are happening, ideas are forming, and our reality is changing though at such a slow rate as to be virtually imperceptible to even the most disciplined observer. This was the way of things at the end of the Age of Order and in the first crisis of the united world. Though I began the writing of this article a good deal before some of the most recent happenings, I believe that current events (taken in the scope of what has been written) fit within the pattern of the processes described. The reader will note the recent departure of FOK! and the Grämlins from the Continuum speaks of a changing interalliance atmosphere. There is no easily perceptible strategic value in separating from the Continuum, nor any conflict (public or private) to necessitate such a move. Both alliances are highly democratic and are thus less affected by the Distant Leader syndrome. The only vaguely rational reason for their departure is some level of general discontent is being felt by their membership. The rise of revolutionary organizations like Vox Populi, the general rumblings across the Open World Forum, and the decline in the rate of new nation emergence (or perhaps old nation survival) all indicate that people perceive that something is wrong. No, we are not in the final age of Cyber Nations. Far from it, we may in fact be seeing the end of the first cycle of Cyber Nations. Though I cannot foresee any return to International Anarchy (unless a "reset" comes about, it will forever be a unique moment in our history), it is far more likely that the world will eventually revert to an Age of Order in order to reflect upon the triumphs and failings of our current age (and eventually try for to create an improved version). The Age of Unity has proven to be just as flawed as each of the ages that proceeded it, if in different ways. The irrational idealism, dynamism, population growth, and charisma that characterized the Age of Order brought with it instability, insecurity, and destruction. The pendulum swung, and a new epoch was born that produced the reverse: stability, security, and national development in exchange for realpolitik, stagnation, and declining numbers of nations. The pendulum will swing eventually. It is merely my hope that we all better understand why when it does. See also Category:Francoism